-This is a transcript from Go Gaddis Radio to listen to the episode click here-> https://soundcloud.com/cleve-gaddis/metro-atlanta-real-estate-insights-weekly-update
Welcome back to another week's edition of Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM 920 The Answer. I don't have the exact countdown, but I think we're about two weeks away from the day. Christmas Day. My name is Cleve Gaddis. And I'm joined in the studio today by Tammie Slay. As many of you know, Tammie is my girlfriend.
She lives in Dallas, Texas. Yes, we have a long distance relationship. We happen to both be in Atlanta today. She's a real estate broker in Dallas as well. So I love having her on the show whenever she's in town. Welcome. Welcome. Well, You can welcome me too. I don't mind you welcoming me. I think that's very appropriate.
Welcome to your own show, Cleve. Right. Welcome. I'm glad you could be here with me, Cleve. So, Tammie, uh, one month. One month into Having my coughing problems. Oh, yes. I'm going to have to make sure I'm drinking hot coffee during the break. I'll have to go get some more coffee. And last week's show, I held it together pretty good, but I had a respiratory virus a few weeks ago, maybe a week or two before Thanksgiving, and it is just hanging on.
You can hear it right now. Can you hear it? Yes. It's just hanging on. So forgive me if I clear my throat a little bit during today's show, because it's just probably going to be the way it has to be. In this first segment, we've got the Metro Atlanta Residential real estate update for the last seven days and our something you should know about metro Atlanta segment What are the best places to sip hot chocolate in Atlanta?
That's going to be a good Segment and then we've also got a listener question who wants to know how does she know that her home is secure? If she has a lock box on her door over the holiday season, you're listening to go get us real estate radio, where we help listeners go from real estate novices to experts.
So home selling and buying can be done with total confidence. And really without all the worry that is so typical with life's biggest investments, we don't want you to learn anything at closing or after that you should have learned before. And we want to connect with you. And it is so easy. Go to gogaddisradio.
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Let's take a look at the Metro Atlanta real estate update for the last 7 days. We're right here in the middle, smack in the middle of the holiday season. What is going on in the real estate market in the last 7 days? We have 1, 225 New listings come on the market. Now listen to this. This is the lowest I've seen all year long.
414 homes went under contract. Wow. Normally that number's 900, a thousand, eleven hundred. But think about this. That means there are 800, for those buyers who are out there thinking there's not enough homes for them to choose from, there are 800 more at the end of the last seven days than at the beginning.
Yeah. Right? Right. Lots more choices. There were 747 closings. And 1038 homes with a price decrease. So for those who think there are not, there's a lack of sellers out there who are motivated and willing to negotiate to sell their home, I would say we have proof that 1038 home sellers are more motivated to sell than you'd think.
I know interest rates are high. I totally get it. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm a little bit worried for those who are waiting to buy a home because of interest rates that they're going to miss 4%, 5%, 6 percent appreciation over the next few years. Which really, in some cases, if you paid 7 percent in interest and you were getting 5 percent appreciation, that offsets a lot of the interest anyway.
And so the house becomes 20, 000 or 40, 000 or 50, 000 more expensive while you're waiting on interest rates to come down. I'm not telling you you should buy a house if you don't need to buy a house, but I'm saying if you're waiting just because of interest rates, you might want to think twice about that.
What do you think about that advice, Tammy? I, you know, I, I, I agree with you, you know, economically waiting, it doesn't ever really work out, um, for people and the other is act, act now, you know, you and I had a good friend that passed away recently and why keep putting off a dream when, you know, if, if you can act now, why not act now and just Live your life today.
Go, go get the house you want, if that's what you want. If you don't want it, don't do it. Right. But if you want it, why keep putting, you know, your family in hold for a year, um, when you think it sounds economically well today. But in the long run, it just, it rarely works out that waiting, um, you're gonna, cause prices always go up.
They just do. Over time they just do. They just do. And I bought a home this year, uh, paid a little higher interest than I was comfortable paying. Absolutely loving it. Yeah. Absolutely loving it. My payment's not any more than it used to be. And, uh, I just absolutely love it. So if moving is right for you, then maybe you should consider doing it even if all the stars don't seem to be aligned because over time, uh, my guess is that you'll be very glad you did.
Hey, and are something you should know about Metro Atlanta? The best places to sip hot chocolate in Atlanta. I know you love hot chocolate. I do love hot chocolate. If you're curious where to find the best mug of hot chocolate around town, there may be no better time of the year to indulge in a rich cup of hot chocolate than during the dark days of winter, during our holiday season.
And, uh, for Atlanta, sometimes that means cold rain and clouds dominating the forecast. For some people, a mug of hot cocoa is Simply a pick me up to satisfy a sweet tooth, which would be for me, while others find warm comfort in a cup of hot drinking chocolate. The history behind hot chocolate as we know it today is a long and winding tale, one which likely began in Mexico in Central America well over 3, 000 years ago.
It's believed that drinking chocolate or I don't know how to say that. X O C O L A T L originated with the Mayans who ground cocoa seeds into a thick paste and mixed it with water, cornmeal, and ingredients like chili peppers. Isn't that amazing? So here are some places to get it. So remember the thing that I told you I didn't know how to pronounce?
Uh, Xocolate. It's the X O C O L A T L. I should have looked up how to pronounce that. But there is a place called X O C O L A T L Small Batch Chocolate, it's Krogh Street Market. It's hard to beat a rich cup of chocolate, hot chocolate from that place. You also have French Broad Chocolates, which is in Ponce City Market.
You have Yaaas Cookies, Y A A A S Cookies, that's in Glenwood Park. You have, uh, Cafe Exito, C A F E X I T O, Mexican Coffee Shop, which is Capitol View. You have Cafe Intermezzo, I N T E R M E Z Z O, which is in Midtown and Dunwoody and Alpharetta. Oh, you and I've been there! To the ones in Avalon. I think that's in Avalon.
So, those are the best places to get hot chocolate. Now, do you love hot chocolate? I do, and now I think we need to do a taste test. Spend a day, go all places, and get all the hot chocolate. I love it. I love it. So, got a listener question. If you've just joined us, you're listening to Go Gattis Real Estate Radio right here on AM 920.
I'm Cleve Gattis. I am a real estate broker here in Metro Atlanta. I happen to be co owner of Modern Traditions Realty Group. If you want to reach us, if you want to Get, have us help you do a buy something or sell something or make some decisions or just talk to us about what's going on. The number is 770 497 0000.
I'm joined in the studio by Tammy Slay, who is a real estate broker, also my girlfriend from Dallas, Texas. Yes, I am. I've got a listener question, which should be right up your alley. How do I know my home is secure if I have a lockbox on the door while selling? Tammy, your thoughts? Well, I know your, um, practice that you do, so how do you know it's secure with the lockbox?
Mm hmm. Is, um, you really don't put the lockboxes on the door, so If there's somebody in the house. Yeah. So I know that's how you do, so, um, the listener question, if they're listing their home with you, would be They can go to sleep with the lockbox in their bed. In their bed, that's so funny. So, what we choose to do if people are living in the home is we don't connect the lockbox to the door.
So when you're home, you can actually bring the lockbox inside and then when you leave for a showing, you can leave the lockbox outside. But let's just pretend for a moment that the lockbox was on the front door. Alright. So, how would, this is Janice, how would Janice know that she, that her home was secure and she was safe?
So, if it is the blue I box, the Supra, the Supra, that box that we're talking about, and if your market works the way mine does, which I think it does, Um, all real estate agents, inspectors or anyone that has access any licensed professional that has access to that lockbox. We are fingerprinted and do a background check and that database is updated, I believe every 24 hours.
So if someone falls out of good character with the licensing bureau, then they are removed from access. So, only people who are supposed to have access have access, and we can set up the system so that anytime anybody accesses the lockbox, Janice is notified of who it is who activated the lockbox, who accessed it, and we can let her know when they put the shackle back into the lockbox.
Best advice. Go ahead. Oh, I was going to say, and the other is you can set up the time the lockbox can be accessed. Oh, that's right. So if you wanted it to stop at 8 o'clock at night, not start until 10 o'clock in the morning, that ought to be customized. So Janice, hopefully that makes you comfortable. If you really don't want a lockbox out there, just tell your real estate agent you don't want a lockbox.
If you haven't decided who to list with, give us a call. 770 497 0000. This segment is brought to you by John Birchfield and Capital City Home Loans. John makes it his mission to guide each homebuyer step by step through the entire loan process so they are educated and confident in the mortgage options available and can make the best decisions along the way.
John can be reached by calling 678 226 7887. Tammy, do you believe that Modern Traditions Realty Group, of which I'm a co owner, can sell someone's house for 28, 000 more than their neighbor sold his or her home for? Yes. So, if you're listening and you're thinking of selling your home any time in the next six months or a year, go to gogaddisradio.
com, click on 28, 000 more, put in just a little bit of information, and I'm telling you, if you're thinking, should I or shouldn't I do this, you absolutely, positively should. There's no obligation. Even if you decided to get all the information from us and do something different, you're under no obligation to us whatsoever.
We will prepare for you a customized maximum value plan, which I think is the real key, it's like the Bible, to how you get the most money for your house. I probably shouldn't say that. Shouldn't equate it to the Bible. And you'll also get a rehab and refresh budget of up to 15, 000. We gotta take a quick break.
When we come back. To decorate or not if you're selling during the holidays and what do we need to do to prepare our homes for extended holiday travel? We've got those and more stick with us. We'll be back